Demons
by Mediancat
Summary: A Charmed crossover. Phoebe finds out that an ingredient needed to vanquish a demon named Tarquin is available only at the Magic Box in Sunnydale. Unfortunately, Whitelighters can't get within fifty miles of the Hellmouth . . .


Phoebe ran to get to the phone. "Hey, Paige."  
  
"I don't have much time; I got a ton of work here," Paige said. "But remember that potion you were looking to make to vanquish Tarquin?"  
  
"Yeah," Phoebe sighed. "I've been to every herbalist and magic shop this side of the Golden Gate and I still can't find any marnox root. I'm going to have to start branching out."  
  
"Look no further." Paige said triumphantly.  
  
When, after another second or so, Paige wasn't forthcoming with more details, Phoebe said, "If you're trying to draw this out for dramatic effect I swear I'll kill you with my bare hands."  
  
Paige laughed, "Okay, okay. They have a supply at a shop called the Magic Box, down in Sunnydale, California – it's a couple of hours north of LA."  
  
"That's a long way off," Phoebe said. "Maybe I should just keep checking around here –"  
  
"Don't bother," Paige said. "I checked every magic shop on the internet. Next nearest shop's in El Paso."  
  
"There are shops out there that don't actually have a 'net presence, you know," Phoebe said.  
  
"Fine," Paige said, playing the guilt card. "Keep looking. Meanwhile, Tarquin's going to keep killing the good guys." Tarquin, their current target, was about six and a half feet of ugly, and his human form was that of a black weightlifter. He didn't seem to much care who he killed as long as they fit the general description of "force of good;" in the last week or so he'd killed three police officers, a social worker, and a witch. Add to this that he was INCREDIBLY hard to track down. Piper kept "finding" him on the map only to have him be nowhere near when they hit the streets. "Plus," Paige was saying, "This might be a chance for you and Cole to have some alone time." Cole had been out of sorts in the past few days, ever since the potion had stripped him of Belthazor and all his powers.  
  
Suspiciously, Phoebe said, "I thought you didn't like Cole."  
  
"I had a talk with Piper about that," Paige said. "I don't like what he used to be. But you love him and he loves you and he's not what he used to be anymore."  
  
"Okay then," she said. "I'll give Piper a call, wake Cole and head on down."  
  
After they hung up, she left a message for Piper at P3 – there'd been a too- wild party there the previous night and she'd had to head in early to supervise the cleanup – and ran upstairs to get Cole, who was sitting on the edge of the bed getting dreassed.  
  
"Morning," she murmured. "Hurry up and pull your pants on; you and I are taking a little trip. Actually, a more than little trip. We'll be gone overnight."  
  
Cole's eyebrows rose. "Not that the prospect of going away with you isn't appealing, but why?"  
  
"We need some marnox root to vanquish Tarquin," she said. "Nearest shop's down in Sunnydale."  
  
Unexpectedly, Cole burst out laughing.  
  
"What?" Phoebe demanded. "What?"  
  
* * * * *  
  
"So what do you know about this band of demons?" Buffy asked as she sat down on the table next to Willow.  
  
Willow just sighed. In the background, Anya was making a sale.  
  
"Look," Buffy said gently. "I know you're still upset about Tara. But right now I need to find about these demons and you're the only one I can turn to."  
  
"Fine," Willow grumped. "And you're wrong. I don't miss Tara at all."  
  
"The same way I don't miss Giles?" Buffy asked. "Never mind. Just help me look for them. A band of demons hits town and just kind of stands around. I want to know if they're here for mayhem or just part of a tour group."  
  
A voice from the back of the shop said, "They're not part of any bloody tour group." Buffy turned and saw Spike. "They kicked a few vampires out of an abandoned house and set up shop. The vampires were pissed, let me tell you, and they tried to work it out on me." He cracked his knuckles. "They're sorry now."  
  
Buffy glared at him.  
  
"Oh, right, the demons. They're waiting for something. What, I have no damn idea, and I wasn't about to go knocking on their front door to find out. Oh, and they were a mix of types, too, but near as I could tell nothing that a good bit of violence couldn't clear up."  
  
"You willing to try to find out what they're waiting FOR?" Buffy asked.  
  
Spike shrugged. "I'm betting it's not the crosstown bus," he said. "But what the hell. It'll give me the chance to do some more pounding."  
  
Buffy nodded. "It's a plan. Will –"  
  
But during the conversation Willow had taken off. "Damn." When Buffy turned around again, Spike had also vanished. "I HATE it when they do that," she said.  
  
Anya said from behind the cash register to a woman who was leaving, "Thanks! Come back! Spend more money!" Right before the woman left, a large muscular man came in, who looked like he worked out a lot. He began to browse through the herbs. Odd; Buffy wouldn't have pegged him for a magicky type. Just went to show with stereotypes, she supposed.  
  
As she turned to head back to the training room, Anya pulled on her sleeve. "I need to talk to you," she said in a loud whisper. Then, smiling at the new customer, "Be right with you, sir!" Then the ex-demon practically dragged Buffy to the back of the store. "I recognize that guy," Anya said. "He's a demon. And not a very nice one, either. I met him a few centuries back. He kills people. Regularly. Often. His name's Tarquin."  
  
  
  
Part 2  
  
Buffy decided to take the direct approach. As soon as Anya finished giving her the lowdown on Tarquin, she walked over to the man and said, "Hi. I understand you're an evil demon who likes to kill people. Will that be cash or charge?" Finally, Buffy was once again occasionally making with the witty repartee.  
  
Tarquin looked at her evenly, neither making any threatening moves nor bolting from the store. "You must be the Slayer," he said in a deep voice. Then, looking around Buffy he said. "Ah. Anyanka. I'd heard you lost your powers but to be reduced to this –" he gestured around the Magic Box derisively.  
  
Anya said, "I make money, I get good sex, and I get to help prevent the end of the world every now and again. What else is there?"  
  
"Power," Tarquin said. "Slayer. Would you tell Anyanka what I'm purchasing."  
  
Buffy looked at the container the demon was examining, then turned and said, "Marnox root. How is that relevant?"  
  
"Marnox root is fairly harmless," Anya said. "It's used a lot in love spells but that's it." Anya might not have been a practicing witch but over the course of a millennium as a demon she'd picked up a few things. Buffy was inclined to believe her.  
  
"I give you my word," Tarquin said, "That I will do no harm to any Sunnydale resident while I'm here. I'm simply on an errand, and it has nothing to do with you or yours."  
  
Anya said, "Tarquin's a nasty, evil, vicious killer, but he's famous for not lying."  
  
"Okay," Buffy said dubiously, "But if it turns you're lying or being all Clinton-y, I'm coming after you."  
  
Tarquin said, "Understood." Then he held up the marnox root. "I'd like to make a purchase." He walked over to the cash register. Anya weighed out the marnox root – their whole supply – and named a price high enough to make Buffy's mortgage payment. The demon pulled out a wad of bills and calmly peeled off seven hundreds, waited for his change, and then left the store.  
  
As he left Anya called out, "Come back again with more hundreds."  
  
Buffy looked at Anya steadily. "Why did you say that? We don't WANT him back."  
  
Smiling ruefully, Anya said, "Force of habit."  
  
"Break the habit," was Buffy's reply.  
  
* * * * *  
  
On the flight down, Cole had told Phoebe what was funny.  
  
"If it wasn't for . . . certain factors," he'd said, "Sunnydale would be a demon's paradise. I've been there a lot, both as Belthazor and – myself. Did you read anything in the Book of Shadows about a Hellmouth?"  
  
Phoebe'd shook her head no.  
  
"It's a direct gateway to one of the nastiest demon realms around," he'd said. "Stuff so nasty even I didn't want to mess with it. It also leaks energy – and this attracts a lot of evil to the place. Demons, vampires and werewolves are just the common ones. It's kind of party central for some of the Source's nastiest minions. I had some fun times there myself. There was this one time a group of demons . . ." he trailed off. "But that was before I met you, of course."  
  
"Nice try," Phoebe'd said, a little skeptical. "Then why haven't we heard of it before? I mean, if it's crawling with that many baddies there certainly has to be something there for the Halliwells to do."  
  
And Cole'd laughed again. "Did you think you and your sisters were the only ones with a mystic destiny? Sunnydale's protected by the Slayer – or at least it was, last I heard." Phoebe still must have seemed a little dubious, because Cole went on, "The Slayer does physically what the Charmed Ones do through witchcraft. Superstrength, enhanced agility, the whole shebang. The one girl in all the world with the strength to fight the vampires, yada yada yada. And this one's been pretty damn efficient. She's taken down some major players -- I'd give you the list, but there's only another hour left in the flight."  
  
"That many?" Phoebe'd said.  
  
"That many. Last I heard was this guy named Wilkins, who'd found a set of books called the Books of the Ascension and was on the hundred-year plan to becoming a major demonic power. She took care of him, though."  
  
"How?" Phoebe'd asked.  
  
"Blew him up. And the entire high school in the process. No other dead people. I was in town looking for some fun and happened to wander by when it happened. After pieces of dead hundred-foot long demon came plopping down around me I opted for a change of scenery."  
  
"So if this Slayer's a big old steaming force of good, why hasn't the Source tried to co-opt her? Or kill her?"  
  
"Different strokes for different folks," Cole had said.  
  
Phoebe'd blinked. "The Source sent Gary Coleman?"  
  
"Sunnydale's evils tend to be free agents; they've always managed to pull down the Slayer in the end. Previous Slayers, anyway. This one's unusually tough, but recently the Source has been a lot more preoccupied with you. Not that I blame him, of course." He gave her his best leer.  
  
She'd elbowed him. "Flattery'll get you everywhere, bub, just not right now. We got some marnox root to find."  
  
And so they'd passed the flight, and the rental car ride to the neighborhood.  
  
When they walked in Cole got a major shock, because it looked like the person running the store was . . . "Anyanka?"  
  
The young woman turned and her eyes widened. "Belthazor," she said. Then, to the small blonde sitting at the table, "Buffy? Remember what I was telling you about, um, that other visitor an hour or so ago? This one's worse." The woman got up and strode towards them, with an irritable look in her eye.  
  
Well. This did not look to be a promising beginning to their visit.  
  
  
  
Part 3  
  
Piper delicately swept up pieces of broken glass from behind the P3 bar. For one of the few times in the club's history, there had been a near-riot when the band stopped playing. Several fights had broken out and it had taken a half dozen police officers to quell the disturbance. It hadn't been the band's fault; the lead singer, some guy named Devon, had gotten two black eyes in the hassle and one of their guitars had gotten smashed.  
  
Fortunately, no one had gotten hurt worse than Devon had, but tables, chairs and glasses had gotten destroyed; a couple of thousand worth of damage, easy. It had almost looked like they might not be able to open tonight, but after a few hours things were looking a lot better.  
  
She headed to the office to put in a call to the insurance company when she felt a familiar presence behind her. "Leo!" she said, then turned and hugged her husband. "Any chance you can stick around and help me clean up? I was going to ask Phoebe, but she and Cole took off for Sunnydale a couple of hours back."  
  
Leo froze. "Did you say Sunnydale?"  
  
"Yeah. Why?"  
  
"This is bad," he said. "Didn't you ever look up Boca del Infierno in the Book of Shadows?"  
  
Shaking her head, Piper said. "No. Why?"  
  
Leo sighed. "It's also called the Hellmouth. It's one of the biggest hubs of demonic activity in the world."  
  
"Bigger than San Francisco?" That seemed hard to believe.  
  
"No . . . but there's about twenty times fewer people in Sunnydale. Why on Earth would Phoebe go there?"  
  
Now Piper was getting worried. "Because Paige called and said she'd found a magic shop down there with the ingredient we needed to vanquish Tarquin and what's going on with all the concern? Phoebe's been known to handle herself around demons before all by her little lonesome."  
  
Again, Leo sighed. "Because I can't help her there."  
  
"Why not?" Piper's words were even more clipped than usual.  
  
"Because of the Hellmouth. It's a gateway to the underworld . . . that spews out all kinds of evil mystical energy. Evil forces come from around the world just to try to open it. And," he said, noticing the strained look on his wife's face, "Whitelighters can't go within fifty miles of it. Too . . . too much evil. If I tried to orb in I'd be dead. Paige would have the same problem. The Source, unfortunately, doesn't have these constraints."  
  
"So this is a trap," Piper said.  
  
"It could just be a coincidence . . ." Leo said, but under Piper's steady gaze added, "But I seriously doubt it."  
  
"So I guess that means I get to take a trip to Sunnydale too, huh?" Piper asked rhetorically. "Great. Love the timing. For once couldn't demons be considerate enough to try one of their schemes when I didn't have something else important to do?" She noticed Leo's worried look. "And don't tell me it's too dangerous. I knew the job was dangerous when I took it."  
  
"It's just that – if you get in trouble, I won't be able to help you," he said. "You'd be on your own and all I could do is watch."  
  
"Like Phoebe is now?" Piper shot back.  
  
"I'm not saying we throw Phoebe to the wolves," Leo said. "You know that."  
  
Part of Piper's irritation vanished. "Of course I know that."  
  
"Besides," Leo said. "Isn't Cole with her?"  
  
"Without his powers that's no better than being with some random stranger," Piper said. She was exaggerating a bit; as Cole, he was a decent fighter, and he still had a lot of his demon-based knowledge. Still, the point was taken. "You know what, honey?" she told Leo. "I think we've reached one of those points where your duties as a Whitelighter and your duties as a husband are conflicting just a smidge. Act just like a Whitelighter for a moment. Would you recommend I'd go to help my sister or not?"  
  
"I'd recommend you be careful," was what he said after a minute or so.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Anya looked up when the couple entered the store. It had actually been a fairly busy day, but right now the store was empty except for her and Buffy. Lots of money, hooray! Then she took a second look at the guy. She'd seen him before . . . but where.  
  
The guy saved her the trouble by saying, "Anyanka?"  
  
Now he recognized him; he was in his human guise, and she hadn't seen that very often. "Belthazor," she said. Then she said, "Buffy? Remember what I was telling you about, um, that other visitor an hour or so ago? This one's worse."  
  
Buffy sighed, got up and walked over to the couple. Belthazor held his palms in front of him and said, "Whoa, hold on. We're not here to do anything."  
  
"Yeah," the woman said, "So back off."  
  
Buffy blinked. "And you would be?" she asked. "Not that I care, but if I'm going to beat the crap out of you I'd like to know your name."  
  
"Phoebe Halliwell," the woman said. "And you're going to beat the crap out of us over my dead body."  
  
Buffy shrugged. "Possibly." Then she looked at Belthazor. "So you're an evil murdering demon? Boy, this is just old home week in Sunnydale for you guys, isn't it?"  
  
"Hey!" Phoebe protested. "He is NOT an evil murdering demon. Anymore."  
  
Anya said, "Did you retire? Because if demons have a retirement plan no one's been mailing me my checks."  
  
Belthazor sighed. "I didn't retire. I switched sides." Then he glared at Anya. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"I was stripped of my powers a couple of years ago," Anya said. "Been living here ever since. So if there's a retirement plan could you pass them my address? I could really use the extra cash."  
  
Meanwhile, Phoebe and Buffy were still glaring at each other. "Okay," he said. "Knock it off. I think we've gotten off on a misinterpretation. I'm not Belthazor any more. I've – I've also been stripped of my powers."  
  
"Really?" Buffy said. "Anya?"  
  
Anya shrugged. "Belthazor lies through his teeth," she said. "He's not incapable of telling the truth but he only does it when he feels like it."  
  
"We're not here to cause any trouble," Belthazor said. "And stop calling me Belthazor. Belthazor doesn't exist any more. I'm just Cole."  
  
"Okay, COLE," Buffy said. "What do you want here?"  
  
"Marnox root," Belthazor said. "All we need is a little marnox root and we'll be on our way."  
  
Pointing to Buffy, Phoebe said, "And once we're gone you can keep right on going insane. Not that it seems like that'd be a long trip."  
  
"Gee," Buffy said, "We'd love to help you, really, truly we would, but gosh, someone just cleared us out of marnox root an hour ago."  
  
Phoebe dashed to the herbs section and began swearing. "She's not lying," she told Belthazor. Then she came back and said, "What happened to it?"  
  
"Oh," Anya said. "Tarquin came in and bought it all."  
  
"Huh?" Phoebe said, then she looked at Belthazor. "That doesn't make sense. It'd be like Superman buying kryptonite."  
  
Then a flurry of activity as four hooded demons of different sizes kicked in the front door and Spike standing there. "That band of demons I talked to you about earlier? Four of 'em are heading here . . ." he trailed off as he saw the group at the front. "But I see you already know that."  
  
"There's the one we want," the tallest one said, pointing at Phoebe. "Kill everyone else."  
  
  
  
Part 4  
  
The demons threw off their hoods; there was one gray one, one that was kinda human, one a bright pink and one colored something like a zebra.  
  
Buffy looked at Phoebe and Belthazor, Cole, whatever the hell he wanted to call himself, and said, "We can settle our fight later."  
  
"With you on that one," Phoebe said as the gray demon rushed her. Buffy took a half-second to notice that the woman seemed to know how to fight, and then charged the pink one.  
  
Cole immediately started thrusting his hand like he was trying to give the demons the finger but had forgotten how. After a second he swore, dodged the zebra-demon's prominent foreclaws, and hit it in its face. "Belthazor," it hissed. "Good to see you again. There'll be a nice bonus for us when we bring in your head."  
  
"You'll have to get hold of it first," Spike said as he also gave zebra-boy a fist to the face. "And right now sadly I just don't see that happening." Then he shoved that demon into the wall, but was blindsided by a fist from the humanoid and went staggering back into an incense display.  
  
"Watch the inventory!" Anya said.  
  
"We're fighting for our lives and all she cares about is her merchandise," Phoebe muttered as she grappled with her opponent. Fortunately this one didn't seem to have any special powers – other than being about five times as strong as she was with teeth that would make a shark envious.  
  
The pink one – who had somewhat flabby, wrinkled skin -- didn't seem to be feeling much pain from Buffy's blows, but he wasn't doing Buffy any damage at all. Buffy turned to Anya – who, despite her natural concern about the shop's contents, was busily rooting behind the counter for some engine of destruction or other – and said, "Yo! Toss me some kind of weapon!"  
  
Anya nodded, grabbed a knife and threw it to Buffy. In one motion Buffy caught it and gutted the demon from neck to sternum –  
  
And was knocked backwards by a blast of air, as though she'd just popped a balloon. In astonishment Buffy watched the pink skin deflate until it just kind of lay there in a big pile on the floor.  
  
A tiny demon – maybe twice as big as Gachnar'd been – crawled out of the pile and began yelling at Buffy, "Do you know how long it took me to puff myself up to that size? Now I have to start all over again –"  
  
"I'll save you the trouble," Buffy said as she squished it, then ran over to help Phoebe, kicking the gray demon in the jaw.  
  
"Thanks," Phoebe said, "Hold him here for JUST a smidge, wouldja?" She ran back to Anya, who'd scrounged up some kind of magic staff, and said, "Where's your holy water and white gold dust?" Anya told her. "Thanks." The gray demon reminded her of one she and Prue had taken down a couple of years ago; if what she remembered was right, this combination should prove deadly. She opened the vial, sprinkled in the dust, shook it up, and ran back to the front of the store, where she said, "Okay, duck!"  
  
Buffy ducked and the water splashed the demon square on the chest. It immediately yelped in pain. "Now," Phoebe said, "If I'm right, he should melt away before our eyes."  
  
The demon did not, in fact, melt.  
  
It DID, in fact, explode, covering Buffy and Phoebe in gray slime.  
  
Phoebe gave Buffy a rueful "Sorry." Buffy just snorted , shook herself off, and went to help Spike, who was slugging it out on the upper level with his opponent.  
  
Cole was grappling with zebra-face and not doing a half-bad job – though he'd gotten a cut on his right arm -- when the demon got off two solid blows to the stomach and knocked him flat on his back. Zebra-face gave an evil leer and moved in to slash Cole's neck, saying "I think your head by itself will get me the reward." Phoebe moved to help –  
  
But her help wasn't necessary. Anya took her staff and clocked zebra-face on the back of the head. Unfortunately, while this got the demon's attention away from Cole, it didn't actually knock him out. He turned and smacked Anya across the face.  
  
Buffy climbed the ladder, waited until Spike's opponent was distracted, grabbed the humanoid by the ankles, and threw him down to the lower level on top of zebra-face. They went down in a tangle of arms and legs. Buffy dropped down to the floor, with Spike vaulting the rail and landing right next to her.  
  
Right then Willow walked in, saying, "Buffy, I –" she stopped, quickly figured out that the two demons were the cause of all the mess, and telekinetically and angrily slammed them into the ceiling. Twice.  
  
Phoebe murmured, "Whoa."  
  
When they hit the ground again, they weren't in any shape to offer resistance. Spike quickly dispatched the humanoid, but when Phoebe moved in to do the same to zebra-face Buffy held her up. "Hold on," she said. "Let's get some information out of this dude before we gut him."  
  
While they waited for zebra-face to regain consciousness they chatted and introduced themselves, minus some of the hostility. Phoebe wasn't surprised that the blonde woman was the Slayer, given the combat, but was more than a little taken aback to find out that Spike was a vampire.  
  
Anya, Buffy and Cole began cleaning up the gray slime from the displays while Spike grabbed the bodies of the other two demons and dumped them into the sewers. Willow took a pair of scissors and snipped some of the pink demon's skin, saying, "You never know when this might be useful."  
  
Phoebe asked for a phone, still keeping half an eye on the powerful witch who'd just casually tossed around five hundred pounds of demons like they were papier-mache. "Hey, Piper," she said.  
  
"Hey yourself," was her sister's response on the other end of the phone. "Leo thinks you're walking into a trap . . ."  
  
Phoebe said, "Yeah, way ahead of you there." She explained the situation, up to and including Anyanka. "What do you have on your end?"  
  
As quickly as she could, Piper explained how it was for Whitelighters and Sunnydale. "So I was making plans to come down –"  
  
"But the only plane between San Francisco in Sunnydale left at 12:15 PM," Phoebe said.  
  
"And by the time I drive down it'll be too late," Piper said.  
  
Theatrically, Phoebe said, "My kingdom for a teleportation spell!"  
  
Nearby, Willow said, "Teleportation? I think I can handle that. Hold on . . ."  
  
Piper asked what was going on; Phoebe explained, and pointed out how powerful Willow seemed to be. Nervously, Piper said, "I don't think I want to go through with this . . ."  
  
"Not my preferred mode of transport either," Phoebe said, "But right now it's either this or a broomstick." Willow'd quickly gotten a handful of dust and a small medallion dedicated to Thor. Willow asked for the phone, and Phoebe gave it to her.  
  
"I hope you know what you're doing," Piper said when Willow picked up the phone. "Okay, go . . ." Willow said the incantation and threw the powder at the phone's receiver.  
  
A few seconds later, Piper Halliwell came shooting out of the other end -- clean across the magic shop, where she tumbled to a stop on the floor.  
  
"Next time," Piper said as she dusted herself off, "I'll take the broomstick."  
  
  
  
Part 5  
  
  
  
Cole walked over to Anya and said, "Thanks for bailing me out over there."  
  
Anya shrugged. "No problem," she said. "What are ex-demons for?"  
  
"So you believe me now?" Cole asked.  
  
"Yeah," Anya said. "I mean, I saw you trying to throw your force thingy back there and getting nothing. I wouldn't let myself get my clock cleaned around by a Burchells' demon just to scam someone and I don't remember you being that stupid either. Because he was cleaning your clock, you know."  
  
"Thanks, Anyanka . . ." Cole said. "At least, I think."  
  
"Oh. And I'm just Anya now."  
  
"So, how –"  
  
"—did I lose my powers?" she asked brightly. "Well, a few years ago I came to Sunnydale to grant a wish to a woman who'd been scorned. Long story short, I got my necklace broken and got stuck here in Sunnydale as a twelfth-grader. I tried to get my powers back, but D'Hoffryn was a big jerk about it."  
  
Cole nodded. "I've heard he can be like that." D'Hoffryn was a more or less independent agent who was in charge of the vengeance demons. Since Belthazor had worked for the Source, they really hadn't come into contact that often.  
  
"So since I figured out that I wasn't getting my powers back and I was stuck here, I had to adjust. So I did. Adjust, I mean. And now I run this shop and make lots of money and get regular sex from my fiance."  
  
"Congratulations," Cole murmured, stealing a glance at Phoebe.  
  
"Thanks. So, how were you dumb enough to lose your powers?"  
  
Cole sighed. Anyanka had always had no sense of tact, but while he wasn't much on unburdening, Anya'd told him, fair was fair. "Belthazor had killed a witch a few years ago. His girlfriend dedicated her life to tracking me down and killing me. A couple of days ago . . . she got hold of the potion that would vanquish Belthazor, and threw it at me. She would have killed me too, but Phoebe convinced her not to. Said I wasn't responsible, that it was only my demon half that had been."  
  
Anya said, "And you're not so sure." Cole gave her an odd look. "Your pronouns. You kept shifting them."  
  
"I killed people at the Source's bidding for over a century," Cole said. "Me, Belthazor, maybe not exactly the same thing but I sure as hell remember all of it."  
  
Anya said, "You should really meet Angel." At Cole's puzzled look, Anya said, "Buffy's vampire ex. Killed a lot of people violently before he got cursed with a soul. Spent the next hundred years brooding about it until Buffy came along. The two of you have a lot in common."  
  
"I don't want to brood," Cole said. "I want to get past it." After a second, "How do you do it? I mean, you seem chipper enough."  
  
"I have to be." Anya said. "You killed people; I tortured unfaithful men. A lot of them were scum, but I might have gone too far on other ones. So I don't think about them. Ever. If I did I'd have to deal with guilt and I really don't deal with that very well."  
  
"So you repress," Cole said.  
  
Anya nodded. "I can repress, brood, go insane or kill myself. I repress."  
  
"Don't know if that's going to work with me," Cole said.  
  
"You have to find some way," Anya said. "Otherwise it's just one demon for another."  
  
* * * * *  
  
Piper'd gone to the phone, given a twenty-five-words-or-less summary to Leo on the other end, and then she and Phoebe went over to talk to Willow, Buffy and Spike.  
  
"Not that I don't appreciate the lift," Piper told Willow, "But try to be a little more careful next time?"  
  
"Hey!" Willow said, grumpily. "I wasn't the one who was holding the phone the way it was." She walked off into a corner of the store.  
  
"You'll have to forgive the redhead," Spike said. "She's been out of sorts ever since her girlfriend dumped her."  
  
"Spike!" Buffy said.  
  
"Well, I'm not lying," the vampire protested.  
  
Phoebe said, "We can deal with the magic thing later. Still – you two are her friends, right?" Buffy nodded. "Keep an eye on that. Selfish magic is the road to evil, and wouldja listen to me, I sound like Yoda."  
  
"Keeping the eye, trust me," Buffy said. "So, moving on . . ."  
  
"Yeah," Phoebe said. "This demon we're trying to kill can only be vanquished with a potion made with marnox root. And – what did you say he looked like?"  
  
"Didn't," Buffy said. "Like a well-built football player. Black and bald."  
  
Phoebe nodded. "That's Tarquin, all right. But – like I was saying – why would be buying up the only thing that can kill him?"  
  
"So you can't use it," Willow said wearily.  
  
Piper shook her head. "Maybe – no. I could see that if you'd been cleaned out a few weeks ago, but a couple of hours? No."  
  
"Plus the fact that we've been lured to one of the few places a Whitelighter can't get to."  
  
Willow said, "I'm sorry, what's a Whitelighter?"  
  
Phoebe and Piper's jaws nearly slammed into the floor. They were so used to knowing about Leo that hearing a witch ask what a Whitelighter was like hearing a Catholic priest ask who this Jesus guy was, anyway. Phoebe recovered first and said, "Whitelighters are the guardians of forces of good – like me and my sisters, and like our mother. Has your entire career as a witch been inside the bounds of the Hellmouth?" Willow said yes. "That explains it. They can't get near here. Apparently it kills them."  
  
"Bloody interfering sods is what they are," Spike said. "A spirity Watcher's Council. One of the reasons I like it here in Sunnyhell is that there's none of them about to muck things up."  
  
"One of those bloody interfering sods is my husband," Piper said.  
  
Spike raised his hands. "No offense." Piper just kept glaring.  
  
"Getting back to important things," Buffy said. "I agree with you. This is a trap for you guys. Tarquin bought the marnox root so you'd chase after him and try to get it, assuming you survived the initial assault."  
  
"There are at least another half dozen at that house," Spike said. "Not counting this Tarquin."  
  
"So how do we beat this?" Phoebe asked. "If they have a trap set up –"  
  
"If they have a trap set up," Buffy said, "You won't be the ones to spring it." She gestured at Spike. "WE will."  
  
  
  
Part 6  
  
  
  
As if on cue, zebra-face woke up. And immediately swore and started struggling with his bonds.  
  
Buffy, Spike, Phoebe and Piper surrounded him; Willow went to the table and opened the spellbook. Buffy felt it was best to let her dig her own way out of her funk, and let her be. Then, to the demon: "Hi. Remember us?"  
  
"Yeah, I was supposed to kill you," the demon said. "It didn't work and now you're going to beat me up unless I tell you what I know."  
  
Phoebe blinked. "He's got a real handle on this."  
  
Zebra-face snorted. "You may as well get started then. But I know you, Slayer. You won't kill me."  
  
"Yeah," Spike said, hitting the demon in the jaw, "But I will. So don't play any games." To illustrate his point, Spike slugged the Burchells' in the jaw.  
  
"I'm not going to," the demon said, spitting out blood. "I don't know that much."  
  
"Well," Piper said pleasantly, "why don't you tell us what you DO know?"  
  
"Tarquin sent us here to take the Charmed Ones," zebra-face said.  
  
"So it WAS a trap," Piper murmured.  
  
"Charmed Ones?" Buffy asked.  
  
Phoebe and Piper raised their hands. Piper explained, "Me and my sisters, three witches with the sworn duty of protecting innocents from demons. Similar to you, really, just a different emphasis."  
  
"Alright then," Buffy said. "Now then, Tarquin also made me a promise that if I didn't come after him he wouldn't come after me or mine," Buffy said. "Was he lying?" The Burchells' didn't answer. "Was. He. Lying?" Spike punched the demon in the stomach.  
  
When he caught his breath, he said, "That was my idea."  
  
Spike snorted. "Why do I NOT believe you?"  
  
Phoebe looked at Buffy like the Slayer'd just grown another head. "Excuse me. You made what deal with the evil murdering demon?"  
  
"If I killed every demon who came down the pike," Buffy said. "Sunnydale would be so full of demon goo you wouldn't be able to drive. But if they try to hurt innocents – like you and your sisters – the deal's off." She glared at the demon. "The Halliwells qualify."  
  
The demon said nothing.  
  
"You know what," Spike said. "I don't think stripesy here's telling us the whole truth. Mind if I have a crack at him on my own?"  
  
"Go to town," Buffy said, and without a word Spike hefted the irritable Burchells' over his shoulder and carried him back to the training room. "Don't kill him, though!" Buffy called after him.  
  
Spike yelled back, "You're spoiling all my fun, Slayer."  
  
Coming from behind the counter, Anya said, "I'm going to go back and help Spike."  
  
Piper said, "Are you sure you want to do that?"  
  
Anya said, "Yes. I was a vengeance demon. Whatever Spike's doing won't bother me." After a second, "Besides, maybe I can help. I know a LOT about torture." Then she left too. Cole wandered over and joined the conversation. Willow still sat glumly at the center table.  
  
Phoebe and Piper looked at Buffy. "Look. We appreciate what you're doing. But this is our fight – we can't just let you take a shot meant for us."  
  
"So we're coming with you," Piper added.  
  
Shaking her head, Buffy said, "No. They're expecting you. That means they'll have stuff set up to stop you." Sounds of violence could be heard from the back room.  
  
Cole shrugged. "So you go in first, since you seem hellbent on tripping the landmine. Then we'll come in and mop up behind you."  
  
"Your funeral," Buffy said. "I'm certainly not going to stop you. But Spike and I are going to go in first and start pounding."  
  
"Yeah, about Spike . . ." Piper said.  
  
"Yeah?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Can he be trusted?"  
  
"Not really," Buffy said. "But if he says he has your back, he has it. Besides, he has . . . other loyalties."  
  
"Yeah," Phoebe murmured. "We noticed. A vampire in love with a Slayer. It's –"  
  
"If you say poetic, I'll break your arm," Buffy said. "I have so been there and done that it's not funny."  
  
Cole whispered to Phoebe, "Anya told me about it. I'll explain later."  
  
The punching sounds still emanated from the training room. "Since we're all with the questions," Buffy asked Cole, "You said your name as a demon was . . . Balthasar? Because I fought a Balthasar, and he was a fat tub of goo." The punching stopped.  
  
"I remember him," Cole said. "I kicked myself for a week when I found out how similar our names were. But I'm Belthazor," he said, exaggerating the pronunciation. "What can I say? All the good names were taken."  
  
Unexpectedly, Spike walked back in. "That girl . . ." he said almost admiringly. "I wish I'd met her fifty years ago. I could have learned a lot."  
  
"So why are you back here?" Buffy asked.  
  
"She's got him in tears. Any minute now I expect him to confess to anything short of kidnapping the bloody Lindbergh baby. But I think we have all the information we're going to squeeze out of him. Only other thing we got is that Tarquin's got some kind of power he was planning to use. Didn't feel like specifying what to the hired help."  
  
Out of curiosity, Piper walked to the training room. Thirty seconds later she came back, somewhat pale.  
  
"This Anyanka was a vengeance demon, you said?"  
  
"Yeah," Cole answered.  
  
"I can tell. Remind me not to even LOOK at her fiance the wrong way."  
  
A minute later Anya returned from the back room. "He won't be bothering us again," she said brightly. "Right now he's just quivering in a corner and crying a lot."  
  
"That's my girl," Spike said.  
  
Anya smiled. "Thanks. Didn't give any more information, though."  
  
"And Spike already knows where they're holed up," Buffy said. "You know, Anya, this isn't a side of you I see a lot of."  
  
"It's not a side I let out too often," Anya said. "But anything to help in that fight against the forces of darkness. So, when do we leave?"  
  
"You want to?"  
  
She gave Cole a hearty clout on the shoulder. "Ex-demon solidarity."  
  
"Will?" the witch shook her head. "Well, then, that'll leave you on Dawn retrieval," Buffy said. "You up for that at least?"  
  
Willow nodded. "Yeah." To the Halliwells she said, "I'd like to talk witchy stuff when you get back. If, if that's okay?"  
  
"Just go along with her," Buffy whispered. "That's as excited as I've heard her in days."  
  
"That's excited?" Phoebe muttered. "She sounds like her cat just died."  
  
"You heard Spike earlier," Buffy said. "She has her reasons."  
  
Piper gave a half-smile and said, "We'd be happy to."  
  
"Oh!" Buffy said. "Remember zebra-face in the back room. Keep an eye out for him. Once he stops shivering he might not be in a good mood."  
  
Willow waved her hand and muttered, "Sleep." Then she looked up. "He'll be out a week."  
  
"Okay," Buffy said. "I'll just go get some weapons and we'll be on our way."  
  
Phoebe muttered to Piper, "Do you get the impression that girl's about three steps away from calling up the Source and asking for a job?"  
  
Piper answered, "I would have said two." Then Buffy came back and they all walked out onto the street.  
  
  
  
Part 7  
  
  
  
Leo paced the ground floor of Halliwell Manor; Paige sat at a nearby chair, but then got up and halted Leo in his tracks and made a production of examining the floor.  
  
"What are you doing?" Leo asked, frustration evident in his voice.  
  
"Checking the floor for damage," Paige said.  
  
"Funny."  
  
Paige blinked. "I thought Whitelighters weren't supposed to get irritable."  
  
"No, that's Jedi," Leo answered. "I hate being powerless like this."  
  
"I'm not that up on the whole Halliwell backstory," Paige said, "But haven't they been places before where you couldn't help them?"  
  
Leo stopped and took a deep breath. "Of course. But the Hellmouth is different. It's this whole 100-mile diameter circle that we can't touch at all, and it's not stuck in the underworld or centuries in the past. Which means it's the only place on the planet we can't go. If they were in Oakland, or Massachusetts, or at the bottom of Challenger Deep – no problem. But this one town in California is off-limits. I don't think I could even hear her – or Phoebe – if they called out to me."  
  
"One good thing so far, though," Paige said. "I mean, I could have gone there by accident, you know? Now I know better. From now on if I gotta go to LA I'm going by way of Reno."  
  
"It won't bother you as much or as fast," Leo said. "You're probably okay to fly over it. But I'd avoid any stopovers at the airport."  
  
"Got anything else you can tell me about this Slayer and the Hellmouth?" Paige asked.  
  
"You're trying to distract me, aren't you?" Leo asked.  
  
"Pretty much." After a second. "So?"  
  
"Okay," Leo said. "First thing you need to know is that the concept of Slayer predates even language . . ."  
  
* * * * *  
  
"You know," Phoebe said as they trudged through what seemed like an interminable succession of sewers, "I could have sworn this place looked smaller from the topside. I mean, how many miles of sewers does a small town NEED?" Buffy and Spike led the way, with Cole and Anya right behind them. Piper and Phoebe brought up the rear.  
  
"Sunnydale's got a major identity crisis," Buffy explained. "It's either the biggest small town or the smallest big city on the planet. Plus we've got a Hellmouth and several major earthquakes. The place has sewers on top of sewers on top of caves."  
  
"As much underground as Sunnyhell has," Spike said. "I'm surprised it doesn't come crashing down around our ears."  
  
"Not helping," Piper muttered.  
  
"What," Spike asked incredulously. "Do you big brave witches not like romping through the sewers? I'd have thought you'd be used to it, what with all the demonhunting you do."  
  
"In San Francisco demons have the sense to live ABOVE the ground," Phoebe shot back.  
  
"Why don't we keep shouting?" Anya offered. "Maybe then the demons will see us coming and run away. I'm sure it won't take but a few months to get in some more marnox root."  
  
"Yeah, well, he started it," Phoebe said.  
  
Cole said, "Doesn't matter," though he quickly put an arm around Phoebe's shoulder and squeezed. "Important thing is to get the root and get out. We can snipe at each other later."  
  
"You can pretty much count on it," Phoebe said, but after that let the matter rest.  
  
"Any clue what this power of Tarquin's is?" Buffy asked. "You guys did a lot more studying on him than we did."  
  
"Not a clue," Phoebe said. "Far as we knew he was just your garden-variety get-in, kill-the-good-guys, get-out kind of demon. Not even any force bolts, just a truckload of strength. Book of Shadows didn't have anything on it."  
  
"Which doesn't mean he might not have picked one up over the years," Piper said quickly. "Or that the Source might not have arranged it – or that he might not have gotten enterprising. He certainly didn't use anything like this on the five people he killed in -- San Francisco." Something wasn't right here, Piper knew. She just couldn't figure out what yet.  
  
"Although he was a bitch and a half to track down," Phoebe said.  
  
After another indeterminate length of time, Anya asked, "Are we there YET?"  
  
Spike stopped at a four-way intersection and, with a sarcastic look said, "Of bloody course not." He seemed a little nervous, though.  
  
Buffy caught this. "Okay, Spike," she said. "Spill. What's wrong?" The vampire said nothing. "What's wrong," she repeated a little more forcefully.  
  
"I have no bloody idea where we are," Spike said. "I could have sworn this was the way back to that house, but –"  
  
"You mean we're lost?" Phoebe said. "How –"  
  
Buffy looked at Spike, almost concerned. "There's something wrong here. You've been in Sunnydale long enough to know where you're going. Hell, so have I, and I don't know where we are."  
  
"Then something's wrong," Cole said. "This is a trap."  
  
Looking around, Piper suddenly realized what was wrong. "It was dark when we left the magic store – we didn't even GO through the sewers. How did we wind up here?"  
  
"No, no," Buffy said, distracted. "Of course we went through the sewers."  
  
"Yeah," Phoebe said. "You feeling alright?" Almost automatically, the six of them formed a circle so that they were looking down all four tunnels.  
  
"No," Piper said insistently. "I'm not. Something isn't right."  
  
"Isn't that the truth?" a voice said from the shadows in the tunnel. Everyone wheeled to see who was coming –  
  
Oh my god. If Piper had needed any more proof –  
  
Because the person walking out of the shadows was Prue.  
  
And she wasn't alone.  
  
* * * * *  
  
In a house at the outskirts of Sunnydale, Tarquin and two other demons stood at the edge of a room. Tarquin stuck out a hand to stop one of the demons from accidentally walking inside. "Careful," Tarquin said. "You don't want to go in there, or you'll be caught up in it."  
  
The other demon looked up at Tarquin. "Do you think they know they got here an hour ago?"  
  
"I don't think they have a clue," he answered. Looking down at the prone forms of Cole, Phoebe, Anya, Piper, Buffy and Spike, all arranged around an urn in the center of the room. Faint blue lines could be seen emanating from the urn to each of their heads. Then, looking directly at Buffy, Tarquin said, "I told you you shouldn't have gotten caught up in this, Slayer. Now you'll have to die too."  
  
  
  
Part 8  
  
  
  
In all, five people stood there; Buffy recognized one of the four she could see. Behind Prue stood a red-and-black faced critter who looked like Darth Maul's ugly older brother. Next to him was Drusilla, and next to her stood a small, ugly, veiny she-demon with long brown hair. Someone else paced back there, about the size of the female demon, but Buffy couldn't get a clear look. About Prue, she asked Phoebe, "Friend of yours?"  
  
"No," Phoebe said. "It's my sister. My DEAD sister."  
  
Prue said evilly, "Oh, don't look so shocked. Did you think I'd give up just because I died?" Then she smiled. "Hello, Slayer."  
  
"Charmed, I'm sure," Buffy snapped.  
  
"Not anymore, I'm not," Prue laughed.  
  
"How – what – Phoebe asked. "I – this can't be happening."  
  
"Why? Because it doesn't fit your precious worldview?" Prue demanded. "Or because you and Piper found a new sister and don't give a crap about me anymore? Well, wasn't it lucky for you I went and got myself killed before the Power of Three became the Power of Four?"  
  
Anya said to Cole, "That's Belthazor, isn't it?" pointing at the red-and- black guy.  
  
Cole nodded. "And Anyanka standing next to him. How is this possible?"  
  
"I don't know," Anya said. "I don't know . . ."  
  
Spike looked at Dru. "Hello, love," he said. "What are you doing in the middle of a bunch of dead people?"  
  
"Fear is a tapeworm," she said. "Gnawing at your gut from the inside. I feel just like that tapeworm. You threw me over for a Slayer, Spike. Just like Angel."  
  
"I am NOTHING like Angel," Spike said testily, then looked at Buffy. "This time you can kill her."  
  
"I plan to."  
  
Cole moved to face Belthazor, but the demon didn't say anything, simply glaring at his human half. But then, Belthazor had never been big on conversation anyway.  
  
Anya went over to look at Anyanka. "Look at you," the demon hissed. "With your fiance and your sex. Didn't a millennium of cruelty and infidelity teach you that men are evil?"  
  
"Um –" Anya said.  
  
"Never mind," Anyanka growled. "I'll teach you myself." She picked Anya up around the neck and slammed her against the wall. When Cole moved over to help, Belthazor grabbed him and threw him down the tunnel. Cole narrowly dodged the ball lightning that followed.  
  
As Spike moved in position to blindside Belthazor, Drusilla stepped in his way. Sweetly, she said, "No fair going into the ring unless he tags you first," then leapt on her ex-lover.  
  
Phoebe muttered to Prue, "I suppose if I move in you'll attack me?"  
  
Prue gestured and Phoebe went flying into the wall. "Why wait that long?"  
  
As Buffy looked around, unsure of which way to turn or who to help first, the fifth and final challenger walked to the center of the intersection. Buffy gaped when the person she saw strolling forward . . .  
  
Was herself. Oh, dressed differently, in red leather pants, but it was still her.  
  
"Don't you act shocked either," the other Buffy sneered. "Look at you, you heartless bitch. Your friends bring you back from the dead and all you can do is whine about it and stand around kissing Spike. SPIKE? Are you insane?"  
  
She walked up and smacked Buffy in the face, once, twice, before finally Buffy caught her double's hand and said, "Enough."  
  
"Well," the other Buffy said. "It's about damn time you showed some heart." She made a production of studying Buffy's face. "But you're not, are you?" she murmured. "Well, maybe you'll show some when I beat the living crap out of you."  
  
Throughout all of this, Piper Halliwell stood at the center of the intersection, increasingly confused. "What's going on here?" she demanded. "This ISN'T real. This CAN'T be real." Prue was slamming Phoebe from floor to ceiling, in the background, while Anyanka was choking an almost lifeless Anya and Belthazor was just playing with Cole. Even Buffy was losing her battle.  
  
As Spike went flying past and impacted the sewer wall, he said, "Feels bloody real enough to me. A little help here?"  
  
Piper shook her head. "No. Think about this. Prue's DEAD. Belthazor's DEAD. And there are two Buffys – what's wrong with you?"  
  
"What's wrong with us," Spike said, "Is we're being killed and you're not doing anything to help us." Then Drusilla raked her nails across his face, grabbed him, and began to smash his head into a nearby grating.  
  
Piper didn't know what was wrong. All she knew is that this was some kind of illusion, like the insane asylum she'd been trapped in recently had been. And that she was the only one who'd figured this out.  
  
Which might be why she was the only one who hadn't been attacked yet.  
  
And she didn't want to become subsumed in the illusion, and she was afraid if she attacked that she would be. She had to fight this. But as hard as she concentrated she couldn't break the illusion.  
  
As all around her her allies, her friends, her sister were getting beaten, Piper knew she couldn't stop it herself. So, instinctively, she shouted, "Leo! LEO!"  
  
  
  
* * * * *  
  
And, hundreds of miles away, Leo heard her.  
  
Not as a Whitelighter.  
  
As a husband.  
  
"It's Piper," he told Paige. "I heard her call me."  
  
Paige was smart enough not to waste any time on hows or whys, instead saying, "What else did you get?"  
  
"Just my name – but she's in trouble," he said anxiously. "What do we do?"  
  
Paige grabbed him around the shoulders. "What we don't do is run around like demons with our heads cut off," she said. "Take a breath. Even if it's just for show." She rooted around in a pile of papers she'd brought with her from work. "Here it is," she said, showing Leo a printout with the Magic Box's name, address, and phone number in Sunnydale. "Took it down just in the event," she said.  
  
"I'll take it," Leo said, and went to the phone. It rang once, twice, and finally someone picked up. "Magic Box," the voice said tiredly. "We're closed –"  
  
Quickly, Leo explained, "I'm – my name's Leo. I'm Piper's husband and Whitelighter. They're in trouble."  
  
"I've been reading up on Whitelighters," the woman said. "Your perceptions can't extend into the Hellmouth. It's a dead zone. How could you have –"  
  
"She's my wife," Leo said impatiently. "Haven't you ever had anyone where you just KNEW if they were in trouble?"  
  
The woman didn't answer the question, instead saying. "Okay. Anything else?" Leo couldn't provide her with any details. "I'll do what I can," the woman said.  
  
"Are you the woman who teleported my wife through the phone?"  
  
"Yes," she said. "Willow Rosenberg."  
  
"Okay. Thanks. Please hurry. This is my wife –"  
  
"If your wife's in trouble," Willow said. "Then my friends are too. I'll handle it. I promise."  
  
And then she hung up and once again there was nothing Leo could do.  
  
Except pray.  
  
  
  
Part 9  
  
  
  
Willow hung up the phone. "What was that about, Willow?" Dawn asked. Xander raised his head too.  
  
"That," Willow said, "Was the husband of one of the witches I was telling you about. The Charmed Ones. He's convinced his wife's in trouble."  
  
"You don't sound convinced," Xander said.  
  
"I'm not," Willow said. "But I'm going to check it out anyway."  
  
Since Willow wasn't convinced, apparently Dawn wasn't convinced. "Look at it this way," Buffy's sister said brightly. "It'll give you something to do. You haven't been out doing much of anything –" She suddenly broke off.  
  
"Don't worry," Willow said. "It's a fact of life and I have to get used to it. Since Tara left me for no reason," she added, finishing Dawn's sentiment, though probably not as Dawn would have done it. "Give me a second and I'll get a tracking spell going. Xander, I'll need something of Anya's."  
  
Xander went behind the counter and retrieved Anya's hair brush as Willow searched around for the ingredients she needed for the tracking spell. Even though it was still magic, at least it was a ritual kind – that meant that anyone could do it, not just a practicing witch. There was still something in the way she said, "for no reason," that made Xander a little leery, though. From what he knew, Tara'd had a damn good reason to leave, and for Will not to see that at all –  
  
Well. That wasn't the topic du jour. Willow might not have thought there was any urgency, but she was so depressed right now she probably wouldn't have blinked at World War III. She'd told them about the Charmed Ones, and this Whitelighter husband of Piper's probably wouldn't have called on just a random hunch. Xander hoped Willow took it seriously once she got the tracking spell going; even if all she found at the other end was the end- result of a fight, at least they'd KNOW nothing was wrong.  
  
The spell was cast, and Willow made ready to get going. "Maybe I should come with," Xander said. "I mean –"  
  
"No," Willow said, "It's probably nothing. And if it IS something, well then, I need you safe."  
  
Then she took off.  
  
  
  
* * * * *  
  
Tarquin and the other demons stood there, over the bodies of their captives. The blue force lines had almost completely faded to four of the six; only the vampire and one of the Halliwells still had strong lines, and even the vampire's was flickering." Does this mean the other four are dead?" one of the demons asked.  
  
"No," Tarquin growled. "Only when all six lines vanish." He glared at the body of Piper Halliwell. "I wish this one would just move it along." He made as if to kick her, but pulled back his leg before he entered the room.  
  
If he suddenly flickered into their induced fantasies, even the urn's power of dulling judgment and screwing with perception would have a hard time explaining THAT away.  
  
So he settled for continuing to glare.  
  
  
  
* * * * *  
  
  
  
Phoebe was dead.  
  
Cole was dead  
  
Anya was dead.  
  
Buffy was dead.  
  
Spike was getting the stuffing kicked out of him.  
  
And Piper didn't feel too well herself.  
  
Prue, Belthazor, Anyanka and the other Buffy moved in circles around Piper, but they weren't attacking. That's what gave her the conviction that this was an illusion.  
  
But God! If she was wrong –  
  
She wasn't.  
  
She wasn't.  
  
This was just like the insane asylum.  
  
It was all a lie.  
  
They weren't dead.  
  
They couldn't be.  
  
  
  
* * * * *  
  
  
  
Willow had been in fact fully convinced by Leo's phone call. She just hadn't seen the point in getting Xander and Dawn all excited. So she calmly walked out the front door -- but once out of sight cast a spell giving herself extra speed.  
  
The tracking spell led towards a house on the outskirts of Sunnydale; she made it there in five minutes. There weren't any sounds of combat inside. Willow seriously doubted that they'd taken out the bad guys and then decided to stand around smoking. She was in no mood for subtle entrances, so she blew the door off its hinges and stormed in.  
  
Five demons stood there in the room, tossing her angry stares. Willow threw them into the wall a few times telekinetically. Then she stalked towards the rear of the house, where a large black man was standing at the doorway to a room next to two other demons. The man turned, saw her, and said, "If you would?" to the two other demons. Meanwhile, he morphed into his demon guise, which was ebony-black and had prominent tusks and claws.  
  
Willow wasn't up for being imaginative; telekinesis had worked once, and it worked again. Fury in her eyes, she slammed the two onrushing demons' skulls together and then went over to look into the doorway Tarquin was standing next to. She put a hand on the demon's chest and shoved him backwards into the bathroom, where he ended up in an undignified heap in the tub.  
  
Her breath caught when she saw how everyone was arrayed on the floor, with the urn sending blue light into their skulls. She was about to blast it out of existence when she heard Tarquin say, "If you do that, they die." The light was faint to everyone except Piper Halliwell and Spike.  
  
Willow spun. "Like I'm going to believe you," she said.  
  
"Do you want to take the risk?" Tarquin said. "Besides, I never lie. If you smash the urn now, they will die."  
  
Willow couldn't take the risk that the demon wasn't telling the truth. "What does the urn do?" she hissed, as the line to Spike's head grew as faint as the rest.  
  
"Forces them to face their demons," Tarquin said. "Gives those demons extra strength."  
  
Willow couldn't waste time, then. She grabbed a herb from her pouch, crushed it between her hands and said, "Remember."  
  
Then she walked into the room and faced the urn's blue light.  
  
  
  
Part 10  
  
  
  
Willow immediately found herself in the middle of a sewer, but a wider one than she'd ever seen before in Sunnydale. It was like some kind of idealized representation of what a sewer SHOULD look like to make it ideal for combat.  
  
There were bodies strewn all about, Buffy's, Anya's, Phoebe's, Cole's and Spike's. They were being circled by Drusilla, another Buffy, and three beings Willow had never seen before. In the middle of all of it stood Piper Halliwell, saying, "It's not real," over and over again.  
  
"You're right," Willow said calmly. "It isn't."  
  
Piper – and the five circlers – looked over at her. "Don't fight them!" she yelled. "If you fight them, or acknowledge their existence, you lose." Another person walked down a tunnel towards them; Willow noticed it looked like Faith, but otherwise didn't care.  
  
"I already know it's not real," Willow said. "So, thanks for keeping everyone alive, but if you could give me a hand here?" Then she gestured and the other Buffy went sailing off down the tunnel, to disappear into the darkness.  
  
The remaining five faced Willow with feral grins on their faces. "Heya, Willsy," the Faith-thing said. "Good to see you're up for a spot of violence." She cracked her knuckles. "'cause God knows I am."  
  
"Oh, shut up," Willow said. "Piper! I just came from the outside. Our bodies are in the house with Tarquin and his demons, but the only way to get back into the real world is to beat these guys. I swear. Now," she thundered, "HELP ME."  
  
Piper stared at Willow, then shook her head and went, "Okay." She waved her hand and the Drusilla-thing froze in its tracks. The human woman looked at her and said, "Good to see you finally showed up, sis." Then she gestured and Piper went crashing into the wall.  
  
Piper got up and said, "You're not my sister," and made a corresponding gesture, and the woman –  
  
Exploded?  
  
Only it was into something shimmery. "Well, hell," Piper said. "Now that I know that –" she made the same gesture towards the female demon, who once again froze in place.  
  
Willow took a stake from her purse and sent it flying towards Drusilla's heart; she exploded into the same kind of shimmers that the woman had. Piper picked up the stake and rammed it through the heart of the female demon, who once again vanished in the same way.  
  
"Once we get out of here," Willow told Piper, "We're going to be surrounded by a LOT of demons. Be ready." She felt more alive than she had in a while.  
  
The fake Faith said, "Wow, look at you, all violent and nasty," to Willow as she walked over.  
  
"You have no idea," Willow growled, then channeled some magical energy into her hand and backhanded Faith into the wall. "YOU'RE my demon?" Willow said. "You?" She slapped Faith again. "I am so, so NOT afraid of you –" one more slam into the wall and she, too, burst into a thousand shimmery pieces. Apparently the Buffy-thing had also been destroyed, because it hadn't come charging back down the tunnel.  
  
That left only the red-and-black demon, who wordlessly threw what looked like ball lightning at Willow. Willow calmly dodged it and waved a hand, and the same lightning went flying back at it. As the demon flew backwards, Piper waved her hand and it exploded.  
  
"Is that everyone?" Willow asked.  
  
"I think so," Piper said –  
  
And then they woke up.  
  
* * * * *  
  
There were pieces of an urn scattered nearby, Piper noticed as she sprang to her feet in a room. Now she remembered what had happened. The six of them had gotten to the house – which had seemed deserted.  
  
"It's not," Spike had sworn. "They were here."  
  
"You don't suppose they could have cleared out in the last couple of hours or so?" Phoebe'd asked.  
  
"Only one way to find out," Buffy'd said, and they'd kicked in the front door. Three demons stood there, smoking; Buffy knocked out one, the Halliwells together took care of a second and Spike and Cole double-teamed the third.  
  
Once two unconscious and one dead body lay there on the floor, Cole said, "Well. Now what?"  
  
Anya'd said. "There!" She pointed down the hall, and a demon was poking his head out of a door.  
  
They'd all run down the hall, into the room the demon had been peering from. He'd been no longer in it, but the window was broken. The only thing in the room besides themselves was a two-foot tall urn, right in the middle of it.  
  
Tarquin had popped his head around the corner and muttered a phrase, and then they'd found themselves roaming the sewers of Sunnydale, with no memory of what had happened and only herself with even a vague clue that something wasn't right.  
  
And then Willow had come to rescue them.  
  
By the door, Tarquin was swearing and calling for his troops. Willow was bent over Buffy with a look of great concern on her face. Buffy said, "Oh, god Will – I felt like I was back in heaven –" as she sat up.  
  
"Shh, Buffy, it's okay," Willow said. "You're back now. It was an illusion this time." The Slayer was crying openly.  
  
Phoebe was saying that she was back in The Source's domain, and everyone else was similarly upset and/or royally pissed. Cole was shaken and Anya seemed furious, while Spike looked like he could quite cheerfully rip Tarquin's head off with his bare hands. But as the vampire made for the doorway, Willow said, "No." Then, to the Halliwells, she said, "Go find your marnox root. Spike, get everyone else out of the house. NOW!" Then her eyes darkened.  
  
This wasn't good. As the demons came charging into the room, Willow began battering them around like they were bowling pins. Piper reached out an arm to slow her down, and Willow slapped it away.  
  
Spike said, "Best not to get in Red's way when she's pissed like this." He took Buffy around the shoulder, while Phoebe grabbed Piper and said, "Yeah. The marnox."  
  
By this point a lot of the other demons, not wanting to face a witch as powerful and pissed as Willow was, were scattering. Piper froze a couple who were still hanging around waiting for a fight, and eventually found the marnox root in a bag upstairs.  
  
When they got back downstairs, everyone else was gone except Willow and Tarquin. Willow had the demon pinned up against the wall with her telekinesis and was yelling at him, "You sent her back. YOU. SENT. HER. BACK. How DARE you." She put Tarquin down and blasted him with a red-force bolt that sent the demon smashing though the floorboards and into the basement. She stood on top of the hole.  
  
"We have to stop her before she goes too far," Piper said. "Not that I have anything against her beating up a demon but look at her. Look at her eyes."  
  
"I see them," Phoebe said. "What would you recommend we do?"  
  
"Willow!" Piper said. The other witch spun. "Willow!" Piper said calmly. "We're the only ones that can kill him." Phoebe held up the bag of marnox root. "Remember?"  
  
"You're lucky they were here to remind me," Willow called down, her eyes resuming their normal color. "Now you have thirty seconds. I suggest you use them wisely." She threw down a small marble and said, "Detonate." Then, to the Halliwells, "Run."  
  
And exactly thirty seconds later the house exploded behind them.  
  
  
  
* * * * *  
  
  
  
In the backyard – having barely managed to scramble his way out of the now- flaming house – Tarquin caught up with four of his cohorts; no doubt the rest were still running.  
  
"I brought you people in," he said angrily, "For muscle in case something went wrong. And once that other witch got huffy, you all took off."  
  
"It's, it's not as bad as that, Tarquin," one of the other demons said obsequiously.  
  
"How could it be better?" Tarquin demanded. "They're alive and they have the marnox root."  
  
"Yes, but we have them." The demon gestured to the back fence.  
  
Tarquin smiled. "Belthazor. Anyanka. Looks like the day wasn't a total waste after all."  
  
  
  
Part 11  
  
  
  
Once they were clear of the explosion, Willow casually conjured up a cell phone and said, "Here. Your husband was the one who told me you were in trouble. You might want to call him."  
  
Hesitantly, Piper said, "alright," and took the phone, hoping that it just hadn't been plucked from the hand of someone about to get mugged.  
  
Phoebe and Willow looked around for a second, and when they didn't see either a group of fleeing demons or their friends, assumed they must have gotten separated from the others in all the chaos.  
  
Phoebe could only hear Piper's end of the conversation, but could tell that Leo seemed greatly relieved to hear she was okay.  
  
"No, she took you seriously," Piper said. "And Tarquin's next, as soon as we get the potion mixed. Hey Paige. Hardly. You're not missing much more than having your life threatened, trust me. Okay. I'll give you a call before I get back."  
  
"Gimme that," Phoebe said before Piper could hang up. "Paige? Next time, El Paso." And to the sound of her younger sister's laughter, Phoebe hung up. "When we get back to San Francisco," Phoebe told Piper, "Remind me to go to Paige's office and yank her internet connection from the wall."  
  
"Consider yourself reminded," Piper said wryly. Willow then came and asked them if they'd like to talk magic, and when the Halliwells said no, let's wait until we actually have Tarquin taken care of, the red-headed witch moved about fifteen feet ahead and began to sulk. That gave Piper the opportunity to bring up her concerns about Willow, and what exactly they were going to say to Willow when they got the chance. "I mean," she said, "I don't think I've EVER seen that black-eye thing happen before. Except on the X-Files, and I don't think she's been contaminated by the black oil."  
  
"Right now," Phoebe said, "I think I'd prefer that. Because then there'd be a way to deal with her. But now? Like you said, I don't think I've seen it before either – the black eyes – but I know it can't be good. She looked ready to cut Tarquin to ribbons. Killing demons isn't bad – but wanting to beat them into a bloody pulp with your magic is."  
  
"Her power was so uncontrolled," Piper said. "It's like she didn't want to stop. Like she was enjoying it. And did you see how casually she whistled up that cell phone?"  
  
"And she used that teleport spell exactly the same way," Phoebe murmured. "And then, when the talk turned away from magic, she got grumpy."  
  
"Almost like –" The Halliwell sisters looked at each other. "Almost like she can't stop. Or REALLY doesn't want to."  
  
"I wonder if there's a twelve-step program for witches," Phoebe asked. "'cause if there is, the girl needs one, stat."  
  
When they walked into the front door of the Magic Box, they got another shock. Buffy was there, talking to a handsome, dark-haired guy with an intense look on his face and a young girl. More sounds of violence could be heard from the back room, along with the occasional loud British swearword.  
  
There was no sign of Cole. Or Anya, for that matter.  
  
Buffy looked up, her eyes red from crying, though she wasn't right then. She smiled half-heartedly when the three witches walked in. "Will. Phoebe. Piper. Glad to see you made it back."  
  
After a few seconds when no one else followed them, she asked the question that made Phoebe's heart plummet. "Where's Cole and Anya?"  
  
Piper said, "They're not in the back room." It wasn't a question.  
  
The guy said, "And they're not with you?" He seemed very nervous; this must be Anya's fiance.  
  
"It's okay, Xander," the young girl said, straining to be optimistic. "They probably just got separated in the confusion. They'll be back soon."  
  
Willow ran over to Buffy. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah," Phoebe said as comfortingly as she could. "The entire thing was phony. When I 'died' I went to the Source's realm."  
  
"I didn't feel a damn thing," Spike said, coming back from the back room. "From the time that phony Drusilla knocked me out to the time I woke up back in that room." To Buffy: "By the way, you need a new punching bag."  
  
"You weren't beating up the demon?"  
  
"He'd've slept through it," Spike said. "It wouldn't have been any fun." Then he looked around. "Where are the other two?"  
  
"That's the big question right now," Piper said. "But we're not worried quite yet."  
  
"Speak for yourself," Phoebe and Xander said at the same time. Then, belatedly, Phoebe remembered the bag of marnox root she had with her. "But we do have some good news. Is there somewhere around here we can make a potion?"  
  
Buffy pulled her chair away from the table and, gesturing to it, said, "Go for it. C'mon, Dawn, move your books."  
  
Phoebe said distractedly, "Well, what else do we need?"  
  
"Water . . . and salt," Piper said. "Plus something to boil the water in. Actually, if this place has a kitchen –"  
  
"It doesn't," Dawn said. "But, with the boiling, gotcha covered." She rustled up a brazier and a couple of cans of sterno.  
  
"Not exactly the way we usually do it, but okay . . ." Piper said, then took the marnox root and began to get the potion ready. There was enough marnox root there to kill Tarquin fifteen times over, so Piper put the rest of it back to one side.  
  
Then, while she handled that – with Phoebe assisting, Dawn watching intensely, Buffy, Willow and Spike having a chat and Xander pacing – the phone rang.  
  
Xander was closest – and it was his fiance's shop – so he got the phone. After a second he said, "It's for, and I quote, 'A Halliwell.'"  
  
"Kinda busy right now," Piper said, just beginning to add the marnox root.  
  
Xander said, "The guy says if we want to see Belthazor or Anyanka alive again you'd better get to the phone right away." Then it him. "If you hurt her –" he yelled into the receiver.  
  
"I think I should take this," Piper said. With iron control, Phoebe kept distilling the potion, which was almost done. Piper walked over, grabbed the handset and said, "Yes?"  
  
Of course, it was Tarquin on the other end. "You heard me. Bring the marnox root – ALL of it, and I know how much there was – to the warehouse at the end of Breaker Avenue. Don't bring the Slayer or any of her friends with you. You have half an hour, or you won't see Belthazor and Anyanka alive again."  
  
"You're lying," Piper said.  
  
"I never lie," Tarquin said, and hung up.  
  
"That was Tarquin," Piper said unnecessarily. "He said to bring all the marnox root to the end of – Breaker Avenue?"  
  
"I know where that is," Buffy said.  
  
Piper continued, "Yeah. Bring it in thirty minutes, and Buffy and the rest of you aren't invited, or we won't see them alive again."  
  
Holding up the distilled vanquishing potion, Phoebe said, "It's going to be a little hard to bring all of it." Xander began to swear, and Piper quickly rushed over to grab the potion from Phoebe before she threw it on the floor in disgust.  
  
"So what do we do?" Buffy asked.  
  
That set everyone talking at once, which went on until Spike let loose an ear-piercing whistle. "Okay then. This Tarquin reminds me of a crooked lawyer. He'll stick by the letter, not the spirit. So, what exactly did he say?"  
  
Piper did her best to remember the exact wording. "Bring the marnox root – all of it, and I know how much there is, to the warehouse on the end of Breaker Avenue. Don't bring the Slayer or her friends with you. You've got a half hour, or you won't see Belthazor and Anyanka alive again."  
  
"Seems pretty straightforward," Xander said. "Let's GO."  
  
"Well," Spike said, "let's see. He said bring the root or you won't see them alive again. He didn't say a damn thing about how long they'd stay alive once you got there. Or how long you'd stay that way, for that matter."  
  
"I say screw his instructions. We go in hard and fast," Buffy said.  
  
"Right. Problem is, Breaker Avenue only has one warehouse, and it's right next to the water on a dead end. So unless you fancy a mile or two of swimming, he'll be able to see us coming."  
  
"Unless you go over the rooftops," Phoebe said.  
  
"Well, then, that's the plan," Buffy said. "Will, Xander, Dawn –"  
  
"Nuh-uh," Xander said. "I'm coming along." Silence. "Look, you already know he twists the truth. Tell them I'm your guide or something. It's not like you know Sunnydale all that well anyway."  
  
"Willow –"  
  
"I'll stay behind and watch Dawn," she said. "I'm actually feeling kind of drained right now."  
  
"I'm not surprised," Piper said under her breath to her sister. "She's used more magic in the last hour than we have all week."  
  
Buffy still looked kind of upset. With concern obvious in his voice, Spike said, "You sure you're up for this? I could solo it."  
  
"No," the Slayer said, holding up a hand. "The sooner I get back into the swing, the sooner I can start repressing again."  
  
"Alright then," Piper said, clapping her hands. "We should probably leave separately. And bring the cell phone."  
  
"The cell phone?" Phoebe asked.  
  
"Trust me on this one," Piper said. "I have an idea." Then, with Xander in front of them, they exited the Magic Box.  
  
Buffy took a deep breath and said, "Come on, Spike, through the sewers."  
  
And they left the shop too.  
  
  
  
Part 12  
  
  
  
Cole looked over at Anya. "How're you doing?" he asked.  
  
"Fine," Anya said. "You?"  
  
"Fine." They were tied, back-to-back, to a support column in the middle of one of Sunnydale's seemingly endless chain of abandoned warehouses. Tarquin – who seemed much the worse for wear from his encounter with Willow – limped irritably near the windows. Three demons of assorted shapes and sizes played gin rummy, while a fourth, who'd been there earlier, wasn't there now; he was either scouting or had decided to run for his life. Apart from making sure Cole and Anya weren't struggling with their bonds, they'd left them pretty much alone. "I mean," Cole added, "Given the circumstances –"  
  
"We could be horribly dead and we're not," Anya said.  
  
"For the moment," Cole concurred. "Care to take any bets as to how long that lasts once Piper and Phoebe show up?"  
  
"I'd say about five minutes."  
  
"That long?"  
  
"So, should we be, you know, trying to escape?" Anya said. "Because dying would put a crimp in my wedding plans."  
  
"The ropes aren't that tight," Cole said. "We could probably shimmy out of them if we had to. But notice, we're surrounded. And while they don't seem to care what we're talking about, I don't think they'd sit back and let us sprint for the door."  
  
"So we wait for our opportunity," Anya said.  
  
"Whenever that happens to be."  
  
"So," Anya said. "How did YOU happen to fall in love with an enemy?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Something else we kind of have in common," Anya said. "Besides being ex- demons and all. You worked for the Source, the Charmed Ones were your enemy."  
  
"I masqueraded as a District Attorney," Cole said. "I got to know her as – as me, not as Belthazor. I started figuring out something was wrong when I found myself questioning the Source a whole lot more than I'd used to. Then she found out who I was and refused to vanquish me – she actually lied to her sisters about it. But I couldn't stay away – no matter how dangerous it was, and trust me, the Source was sending hit demons after me every time I used my powers. I already told you how I lost those."  
  
"Cool."  
  
"And you?" If this was what Anya wanted to do to pass the time, Cole saw no reason not to oblige her.  
  
"Well – I actually hadn't been a human for over a thousand years, remember, so it took me a long time to adjust. Some people still say it seems like I'm adjusting what with my lack of tact, but really, that's what I was like when I was a person so I think I'm doing fine. Anyway, I needed a date for the prom and Xander was the only one who'd agree to go with me. Then I tried to persuade him to run away with me when I found out about the Ascension, but he wouldn't go. So I went away for a couple of months but I couldn't get him out of my head. We came back, we had a lot of sex, and eventually we realized we were in a relationship."  
  
"Okay."  
  
After a second, Cole said. "How are you in a fight?"  
  
"Not very good. You?"  
  
"Not bad, but not up to taking on all four of them."  
  
"So if it comes down to the two of us escaping –"  
  
"We're screwed."  
  
* * * * *  
  
  
  
"So, listen, Slayer –" Spike said as they circled around the block near Breaker Avenue.  
  
"Spike, I recognize that tone in your voice. And if this about those two and ONLY two times we kissed –"  
  
"What, do you think I'd bollix up an important mission like this with talk of our lips pressed against each other? You don't know me that well."  
  
She spun to face him. "Not another word."  
  
Holding his hands up in mock surrender, Spike said, "Right then. Nothing more about it."  
  
"That's good."  
  
"Tonight." Buffy blew out a breath between pursed lips and picked up the pace. Spike had to scurry to keep up with her. "What's the bleeding rush, anyway?"  
  
"The rush is, we have a lot more ground to cover. And we need to make sure we're not being watched. Have you seen anyone?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Me neither. But this is Sunnydale."  
  
"Always safe to assume you're being watched by someone, love. Doesn't mean they report to Tarquin."  
  
"You're right." They were at the edge of Breaker Avenue; all they needed to do was cross the street and find some way of scurrying to the roof of a closed office building. They gave one more quick look-around under the nearby streetlamps, and all of a sudden Spike grabbed Buffy and pulled her into the shadows, hard, so their bodies wound up pressed together. "I told you –"  
  
"Quiet," the vampire hissed. After a few seconds, he peered back around the corner. "Coast is clear. But see that demon over there, across the street, in the shadows?"  
  
Buffy took a quick peek around the corner and saw who Spike was talking about. The demon was looking mostly in the other direction, fortunately. "How'd I miss him?"  
  
"Important thing is he missed us," Spike said. "Problem is he's faster than we are, so if we rush him he'll get away. And even if we caught him, if his scout didn't show up Tarquin'd be likely to figure something's fishy."  
  
"So we don't rush. We sneak."  
  
"Area's well lit, Slayer. And we both kind of stand out in a crowd. Or we would if there was one about, which –" he gestured at the hugely empty street – "There isn't."  
  
"Okay." They had to think fast; the Halliwells' deadline was only about ten minutes away. "I have it. I think." She explained her idea to Spike.  
  
The vampire snorted. "Oldest trick in the book. It'll never work."  
  
"Well," Buffy said, picking up a rock from the alley nearby, "There's a reason tricks become old." She tossed the rock well down the street, where it clattered into a car windshield, setting off the alarm. The demon started and moved a bit down the street to take a look. Buffy turned to say, "Now," but Spike was already halfway across the road. Cursing, Buffy followed him, and they dodged into an alley beyond the office building. They'd've followed this road if they could, but it dead-ended halfway down the block.  
  
In the alley, there was a fire escape. Buffy and Spike scrambled up it and began the arduous task of leaping from rooftop to rooftop.  
  
  
  
Part 13  
  
  
  
As Xander and the Halliwells walked towards Breaker Avenue, Piper explained to Phoebe why she brought the cell phone.  
  
"I don't know if that'll work," Phoebe said. "I mean, every other time we've tried it we've been holding hands or close together."  
  
"Only one way to find out," Piper said. She dialed and got Leo on the second ring. "Hi, sweetie," she said.  
  
"Hey. Everything okay?"  
  
"No, there've been some complications . . . " Piper trailed off.  
  
"Complications?" Leo said.  
  
"I'll explain later. Put Paige on, would you?"  
  
Very reluctantly, Leo said, "Okay."  
  
A second later her recently acquired younger sister picked up the phone. "Hey there. Whatcha need?"  
  
"Your cooperation." Briefly Piper explained what she had in mind.  
  
Paige said, "You think that'll work?"  
  
"Only one way to find out. You in?"  
  
"Absolutely."  
  
"Good," Piper said. "I'm going to keep the line open, okay? Hang by the phone."  
  
"Consider me hung," Paige said.  
  
Piper put the cell phone back in her pocket and said, "Now it's up to you."  
  
"Oh, I don't know if – hold on."  
  
"You have something?"  
  
"I think so – but I'll need to work a little. Go talk to Xander."  
  
The young man, full of irritable energy, was bounding ahead of them. "Whoa there, tiger," Piper said. "Not gonna help us any if we get there before Buffy and Spike do."  
  
"Easy for you to say," Xander snapped. "Your fiance's not in danger."  
  
"No, but HER boyfriend is," Piper said, annoyed.  
  
"Sorry. Sorry." Xander held up his hands. "Every once in a while I revert to being a complete knucklehead. This seems to be one of the whiles." After a second, "Growing up --you're older than me, right?"  
  
"Not THAT much," Piper muttered. "Why?"  
  
"Because every time I think I have this thing called maturity figured out, I go and do something like take a cheap shot at a friendly witch, or summon a music demon for shits and giggles, or something."  
  
Piper grabbed his arm. "You summoned a music demon?"  
  
"We were the world's biggest production of Rocky Horror. Let's just say that I'm glad he DIDN'T make me go through with the wedding plans."  
  
Laughing, Piper said, "I don't want the details, do I?"  
  
"Not really."  
  
"Trust me," Piper said, "It doesn't get easier. A while back, not long after I found out about Paige, I went on something of a demon-killing rampage that ended up with me becoming a Fury and nearly killing her – and a few other people into the bargain. All because I couldn't bring myself to admit I was angry at Prue for dying."  
  
"Prue is --?" That's right, Xander wouldn't know.  
  
"Prue was my older sister, and kind of our born leader. She was killed by demons -- it's been hard getting along without her, really." God, she missed her. Even that illusion the urn had created had been heartbreaking in its untruth.  
  
"I hear you, there," Xander said. "It's the line of business we're in. One of my best friends was killed by a vampire – god, nearly five years ago. A teacher we were all close to was also killed by a vampire about a year later. And last year Buffy died fighting a renegade god named Glory." He didn't sound battle-hardened. And – five years? He couldn't be more than 21. Suddenly, Piper was substantially more impressed with the job Buffy and her friends had been doing. She'd been cognizant of her status as a Charmed One for barely three years, and she'd been a lot older than 16 when she'd found out.  
  
Then something struck her. "Buffy – died? But then –"  
  
"That's why she was crying about heaven," Xander said. "We brought her back a couple months ago. From Heaven. We thought it was hell."  
  
"Let me guess," Piper said. "Willow's idea."  
  
"Yeah," Xander said. "Can I tell you something? She's starting to worry me a little. All this magic she's doing – she's not being very careful. Or she's outright lying to us. She told me and An and Tara – that's her ex- girlfriend – that the spell was safe. It wasn't. And since then –"  
  
Sighing, Piper said, "Keep an eye on her. She's really starting to worry Phoebe and me, the way she tosses around her magic like that. Doesn't seem like she's evil –"  
  
"She isn't," Xander said firmly.  
  
"But she's far from good, right now. She could be dangerous – to herself, to others. The power magic can give you can be a tremendous thrill. It takes a lot of self-control not to just use it to make things easier on ourselves."  
  
"But you manage."  
  
"We have to. The Source is watching our every move, trying to kill or corrupt us. ANY witch. And – well –"  
  
"I get what you mean," Xander said. "Trust me. I'm worried too."  
  
"Piper?" Phoebe called.  
  
Piper nodded to Xander, and dropped back to join her sister. "Got it?"  
  
"I think so." She told Piper – and Paige, via the cell phone – what she'd come up with.  
  
"Not a moment too soon," Piper said. "Because unless I'm misreading the signs, that's Breaker Avenue ahead." And sure enough there was an office building standing there saying, "Breaker Plaza," and as they got closer, they saw the matching street sign.  
  
"And look, there's one of our charming play dates," Phoebe said, recognizing one of the demons from earlier standing about fifty feet down the block. As soon as he saw them, he took off running back down the block, vanishing into a gigantic warehouse right by the waterfront.  
  
The Halliwells and Xander took a deep breath and walked down. When they were maybe twenty feet from the doorway, Tarquin came outside. Noticing Xander, he said, "I told you to come alone."  
  
"If we'd come alone we'd still be wandering the Sunnydale night," Phoebe said. "This guy was nice enough to guide us."  
  
"Well, now he can be nice enough to stay outside," Tarquin said. "Do you have the marnox root?"  
  
"Right here," Piper said, holding up the bag.  
  
"Good. Now, follow me –"  
  
"Hold it," Xander said. "If you think –"  
  
"Xander," Phoebe said, spinning to face the young man. "It's okay. You got us this far. We can handle ourselves." She rolled her eyes slightly upwards.  
  
"Gotcha," Xander said, though he still looked unhappy. "I'll just get going then." He turned and walked down the block.  
  
Then the Halliwells followed Tarquin inside the warehouse.  
  
  
  
Part 14  
  
  
  
Xander had seen why Phoebe'd looked up. After the Halliwells and the demon were safely inside the warehouse, Xander nodded to Buffy and Spike, who'd been watching the whole thing from above. Because shouting out to them would have been a really stupid idea, Xander communicated by gestures the question of what he should do.  
  
Buffy mouthed back, "Keep an ear out," and then she and Spike vanished, presumably to go see if they could find a way of getting inside the warehouse that didn't involve plummeting twenty-five feet onto a concrete floor.  
  
Xander wouldn't have that problem; of course, if Tarquin had locked the door, he might have a little trouble actually getting inside . . .  
  
He scoured the area and found a metal rod by the edge of the water, then stood back and waited to attack.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Buffy and Spike listened quietly to the exchange between Tarquin and the Halliwells, and after they vanished saw Xander look up. After she told him to keep his ear out, she and Spike went back and searched the roof.  
  
There weren't any convenient skylights, but there was a locked door. Just before Buffy was about to kick it down, though, Spike held her back, put a finger on his lips and instead reached down and snapped off the knob.  
  
Damn. She should have figured that out for herself. Spike made an elaborate bow and gestured for Buffy to go inside first. Sticking her tongue out, Buffy made ready to scope out the area when Spike grabbed her arm and whispered, "Don't stick out that tongue at me unless you're prepared to use it."  
  
That wasn't worth a glare. Buffy fiddled with the door and finally managed to pry it open. It opened quietly, a blessing. The door led to a steep metal staircase, which led to a catwalk about fifteen feet over the floor. Once they crept down the stairs, they could see the situation unfold beneath them. Tarquin – who'd resumed his demonic form when he'd reentered the warehouse – was looking through the contents of the bag containing the marnox root, Anya and Cole were tied to a support post, and the four other demons, fearsome looking critters all, were standing at attention behind Tarquin. Two held wicked-looking knives, while a third had a nasty-looking set of claws. The other one just kind of stood there.  
  
Tarquin was saying something about there not being enough marnox root in the bag.  
  
The next words out of his mouth came through quite clearly.  
  
Pointing at Anya and Cole, he said, "Kill them."  
  
* * * * *  
  
When Phoebe and Piper entered the warehouse, Tarquin said, "Shut the door." Phoebe did so. Then, once they'd gotten towards the center of the room, he told them to stop and toss over the bag with the marnox root.  
  
As he bent to pick it up, he pointed to Cole and Anya, tied to a column about fifteen feet away. "See them?" Phoebe and Piper's eyes darted over. "They're still alive," Tarquin continued. "Belthazor! Anyanka. Show them you're still alive!" At that – pretty much confirming Spike's suspicions from earlier—Phoebe got ready to go for the cell phone at a moment's notice.  
  
"My name is Cole," he shot back.  
  
"Anyanka?" Tarquin said.  
  
"Anya," she said. "Get it right."  
  
Tarquin ignored the ex-demons' display of bravado and turned once again towards the Halliwells. "There. Are you satisfied?"  
  
"Yeah, they're alive," Phoebe said.  
  
Impatiently, Tarquin said, "Then slide the bag over here on the floor."  
  
"Boy's seen too many movies," Phoebe muttered, then put the bag with the marnox root down, and kicked it over. Of course, being a small pouch and not a gun, the bag just kind of skidded to a stop about five feet short.  
  
Tarquin bent over to pick it up and began testing it with his hand, checking the weight, Phoebe guessed. While he was distracted, Phoebe slipped the cell phone out of her pocket, while Piper did the same with the vial of the vanquishing potion. Then the jet-black demon shook his head. "No," he said. "No. Some of the marnox root is missing."  
  
Then, to the three demons behind them, Tarquin said, "Kill them."  
  
Right then Phoebe yelled, "Now!" and held up the cell phone. In unison, the three sisters chanted:  
  
Let no knife or blade or claw  
  
Or anything that's sharp at all  
  
Hurt any hostage here today  
  
In any form or any way!  
  
A nimbus of golden light shot towards Cole and Anya, who were struggling to get free of their bonds, and surrounded them just before one of the demons stabbed Cole.  
  
Or tried to. The blade bounced off. "It worked, Paige, gotta go," Phoebe said to the cell phone, and tossed it to one side as Tarquin whirled and charged.  
  
He was brought crashing to the ground by a blur with blonde hair leaping from the walkways above. Buffy and Tarquin smashed into the warehouse floor; they wrestled around there for a second until Tarquin threw the Slayer off and got to his feet. Unfortunately for Piper – and the potion she held – the demon had tossed Buffy into her, knocking her down and sending the vial clattering across the floor.  
  
Tarquin came over, shrugged off a couple of blows from Phoebe, and, as Piper made the gesture to try to freeze the demon, Tarquin backhanded her into the wall. She crumpled. As he drew back his fist to hit her again, Buffy and Phoebe grabbed him at the same time and threw him away. After bending down to check on Piper – she was breathing -- Phoebe asked Buffy, "Can you hold him off?" Buffy nodded. "Good. I have to go find that vial." She ran off to look while Buffy started slugging it out with the demon.  
  
Spike, meanwhile, had sprinted down the stairs and had taken two of the demons by surprise, breaking one's neck and the other's arm. He was in the middle of wrestling with him, while another kept futilely trying to stab the nearly free Cole and Anya.  
  
This left the third free to come after her, and while it didn't seem very strong, who knew what powers it might have . . . beyond fangs and claws? The first time it ran at her she levitated; the demon swiped at her, missed, and as it passed she gave it a quick kick in the back of the head. It ended up face-first against the wall. When she landed, she scrambled around looking for the vial – it had ended up somewhere around here – and almost missed the demon coming after her again.  
  
Then she forgot about looking for the vial, because the demon was doing its level best to slice her into pizza topping. Not for the first time that evening she envied Buffy her strength; the Slayer was taking some blows from Tarquin that would have ripped her head off. Not that Phoebe was a novice or anything, but man could she have used the force behind some of those punches.  
  
Kick, punch, dodge, block . . . it got to the point where she was beginning to feel a little like Daffy Duck as Robin Hood, when all a sudden the demon fell into a heap at her feet.  
  
Xander stood there with some kind of metal rod. "Hey," he said. "Looked like you could use the help." Then he looked over and saw the demon going after Cole and Anya and started to move towards them.  
  
Phoebe grabbed hold of his wrist. "They're okay," she said. "We cast a spell on them – they can't be hurt by anything sharp." Then she pointed to the ground. "I'm looking for a glass vial," she explained.  
  
"That potion you were making," Xander said, catching on.  
  
"Yeah. It's the only thing that can vanquish Tarquin."  
  
So she and Xander scrambled around looking for the vial. Meanwhile, Buffy was holding her own against Tarquin, who wasn't used to an opponent who was as strong as he was. Spike was winning the fight with his demon, and Cole and Anya were doing whatever damage they could to their foe, who apparently hadn't figured out that the knife WOULDN'T HURT THEM.  
  
Finally Spike grabbed his enemy's knife and slit his throat; then he ran over to help Cole and Anya. By this point, Buffy and Tarquin had moved to trading blows in the center of the room. Buffy was bleeding from a nasty gash on her arm, but one of Tarquin's claws had apparently broken off completely, and one of his tusks was cracked.  
  
"Is this it?" Xander asked, picking something the right size up from the floor.  
  
Peering in to look at it, Phoebe discovered that, yup, it was the vial full of the vanquishing potion. She grabbed it and yelled to Buffy, "GET CLEAR!" This distracted Buffy for a second, and Tarquin took advantage of her distraction to send her reeling with a blow to the jaw. Then he spun to face Phoebe.  
  
She reared back to throw the vial –  
  
And Spike shoved the demon who'd been facing Cole across the room.  
  
Xander yelped and jumped back; the demon narrowly missed him as it collided with another support pole.  
  
But in jumping back, Xander jarred Phoebe's arm –  
  
And the vial smashed to the floor about a foot in front of Tarquin and began bubbling. As Phoebe began swearing and Xander made with the sorrys, Tarquin began to laugh.  
  
He stopped when Anya jumped on his back and Cole grabbed his legs and began to pull. It took Phoebe a second to realize what they were trying to do; the floor was concrete, it wouldn't absorb the potion easily. She came in and grabbed the other leg, and Buffy moved in front and started pelting the demon with blows. Spike stood by to make sure Tarquin didn't try to run off.  
  
Xander told Cole and Phoebe to keep their heads down and started cracking the back of Tarquin's kneecaps.  
  
And, eventually, he went down, onto the still-bubbling potion. As he began screaming, Phoebe yelled, "Get clear!"  
  
Everyone rolled or scrambled clear – except Anya. Tarquin grabbed her ankle and rasped, "I . . . will kill . . . one of you . . . " As he began to tremble violently, Anya tried to pull free but couldn't.  
  
As the demon exploded into magical fire, Cole dove in out of nowhere and yanked Anya clear. When the flame burst ended, Cole's jacket was on fire, but a few quick rolls took care of that and apart from a few bruises he seemed none the worse for wear.  
  
Xander walked up to Cole and said, "Thanks."  
  
"No problem," he said as the both of them pulled Anya to her feet. "It's like she was telling me earlier. We ex-demons have to stick together."  
  
  
  
Part 15  
  
  
  
Buffy and Spike made quick work of the two demons who weren't technically dead, and then they all started their long walk back to the Magic Box.  
  
Spike, in the mood for even more violence since he hadn't been the one to kill Tarquin, walked in front, looking for things to maim and not having much luck. Xander and Anya were in an animated conversation about something, though they were holding hands, and Phoebe and Cole were doing more or less the same thing – of course, this being Cole, the conversation was a lot quieter.  
  
That left Piper to talk with Buffy. "So," she said, "I guess when we get back to the shop we'll pick up our stuff and find a hotel."  
  
"This time of night? Only places still renting charge by the hour. No, you can come stay with me. It's a big house. Um – are Phoebe and Cole actually sleeping together?"  
  
"Not exactly sleeping," Piper said, laughing, "But I think they'd behave."  
  
Buffy gave a half-smile at that – the first Piper'd seen all night. "Good. So we can put them in Willow's room, you can take mine, and Will and I can split the couch."  
  
"If you think I'm going to make some excuse and try to turn you down, you're wrong," Piper said. "This has been a hell of a night."  
  
"Typical for Sunnydale," Buffy murmured.  
  
"Now that I think of it, about average for San Francisco too," Piper said. "Though usually the demons we run into tend not to run around in packs."  
  
"Lucky you," Buffy said. "Would you like to trade sacred duties?"  
  
At that, Piper laughed. "No thanks. Sunnydale's a nice place to visit, but –"  
  
"You wouldn't want to live here?" Buffy finished.  
  
"Actually not what I was going to say," Piper said. "I was going to say, but my husband and sister would die, so no thanks."  
  
"Yeah, right," Buffy said, "Forgot that little detail." Then, after a second. "What is it about people in our line of work? You're married to a spirit of good, your sister's dating an ex-demon, Xander's going to marry one, Willow's dated a witch and a werewolf, I've dated a vampire and Captain America, and ANOTHER vampire's got the hots for me. And that's not even mentioning Cordelia."  
  
Piper opened her mouth to ask – werewolf? Captain America? – but figured out she was probably better off not knowing. The question seemed serious, so she answered, "I'm not sure. Pressures of the work, I suppose. I was attracted to Leo before I knew he was a Whitelighter – for that matter, so was Phoebe. To Cole, I mean."  
  
"I didn't know Angel was a vampire, I didn't know Riley was a government agent, and Oz didn't become a werewolf until he and Will were already an item." Then, after a second, "But you're probably right. Kind of hard to find someone normal given our dating pools."  
  
For a few minutes they walked in silence. Then Piper said, "Look, Phoebe and I have been meaning to talk to one of you more seriously about Willow."  
  
"What about Willow?" Buffy asked suspiciously as they rounded a corner.  
  
"Her magic. The way she uses it."  
  
"Oh. She's going through a bad spell right now, that's all," Buffy said. "Spike was right, back in the shop, though he wasn't very nice about it. Tara – her girlfriend – just up and moved out a couple of days ago, and didn't bother explaining why. She seemed really ticked at Will for some reason, but – anyway. She's been a big funk since then."  
  
"This isn't just about the funk," Piper said. "She was practically out of control, back there at the house."  
  
"She saved our lives," Buffy said, amazed. "Kind of hard to take on a half- dozen demons without doing some damage. Besides, what's your 911 on the deal? She was killing demons. Kind of your line of work, last I heard." The mood had suddenly just gotten ugly.  
  
"She blew up the house in a fit of pique," Piper said. "She conjured up a cell-phone out of thin air when we didn't need one."  
  
"I didn't notice you taking any moral stands when you cast that spell," Buffy said acidly.  
  
"Next time," Piper shot back, "We'll just let them die. Besides, Phoebe and I aren't the ones who called the cell phone into existence."  
  
"No, you just took advantage of it," Buffy said. "Let Willow do the dirty work and then sneer at her. This conversation is over." She accelerated to catch up with Spike.  
  
Piper muttered to herself, "Well, that went well . . ."  
  
  
  
* * * * *  
  
Buffy didn't mention her argument with Piper to anyone, and the rest of the night went fairly smoothly, all things considered. Cole and Anya spent a lot of time exchanging war stories until Xander had to drag his fiancee off with promises that, yes honey, you can talk more to the nice ex-demon in the morning. Spike had peeled off before they even got home, and Dawn had long since gone to bed.  
  
The Halliwells still wouldn't give Willow any pointers, but they did let her tell them about some of the "cool spells" she'd cast and in return shared a few of their own anecdotes, carefully leaving out the details.  
  
Listening to her stories only confirmed their fears, though. The sisters talked long into the night, and when Phoebe finally crawled into bed with Cole he rolled over and said, "What took you so long?"  
  
"Sister stuff," Phoebe said. "You wouldn't be interested. Go back to bed – Cole, we can do that when we get home."  
  
"Just because Willow's not getting any in this bed –" Cole said jokingly.  
  
Fixing him with a mock-severe glare, Phoebe said. "No means no, buster." Cole threw his hands up theatrically and tried to go back to sleep.  
  
The next morning, Willow woke up the Burchells' demon, and Buffy shooed it out into the streets with the stern warning to stay the hell away in the future. Zebra-face didn't seem inclined to argue the point.  
  
Anya and Cole swapped tales of their demonhood for a few more minutes while everyone else made their farewells. There were handshakes and hugs all around, until Buffy told Piper, "Look, about last night, I overreacted a little. Friends?"  
  
"I hope," Piper said, then, looking at Phoebe said, "Ready?"  
  
"Ready?" Then, in unison, the sisters said, "Willow Rosenberg, we bind you from doing magic," and put all of their magical effort behind their words.  
  
Everyone in the room could feel the spell trying to take effect. Without a word, Buffy stepped forward and socked Piper in the jaw. Cole and Anya ran across the room to get in between them. "Easy," Cole said. Then he shot Phoebe a questioning look.  
  
Before Phoebe – or Piper, rubbing her jaw as she stood up – could answer, Willow said, clearly thoroughly pissed, "Whatever that was –" she telekinetically picked Phoebe up, spun her around head-to-toe, and dumped her back onto the Magic Box floor – "It didn't work."  
  
Cole looked at Anya. "I had no idea."  
  
"I believe you," Anya said. "Still, maybe you'd better get them out of here before we all start trying to kill each other."  
  
"Good idea," Cole said. Then he gathered in the Halliwells and escorted them to the door, to Buffy and Willow's angry glares. As he opened the door he looked at Anya. "Give me a call again if you ever want to hash out old times."  
  
"Same to you," Anya said.  
  
As they walked to the rental car, Phoebe muttered to Cole, "You could have helped us back there."  
  
"I did," Cole said. "I stopped them from murdering you. What the hell were the both of you thinking?"  
  
"She's out of control," Piper said. "Couldn't you see that?"  
  
"I could," Cole said. "But couldn't you have tried talking to her first? That's a lot heavier-handed than you normally get."  
  
Phoebe sighed. "Xander was worried, Buffy wouldn't talk about it – it seemed like something drastic had to be done."  
  
"Congratulations," Cole said as they reached the rental car. "You've just severed ties with someone who might have been an excellent ally later, and damn near created an enemy. I'd call that drastic."  
  
"What I don't understand," Piper said, "Is why it didn't work."  
  
Shrugging, Cole said, "Who knows. Maybe it's the Hellmouth, maybe you said it wrong, or maybe she's just that powerful. Or maybe it's something simpler. Maybe," he said, gazing back towards the magic shop, "Maybe it's just that we're all responsible for our own demons." 


End file.
